India's civil aviation ministry has summoned Air India outgoing CEO Campbell Wilson over the Phuket-Delhi flight incident in which the aircraft suddenly lost about 300 feet of altitude last week, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
The August 4 incident involving Air India's A320 aircraft, operating flight AI2379 from Phuket to Delhi, is being investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) as a "serious incident" under Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Also Read: Air India's A320 plane suffered glitches, turbulence during Phuket-Delhi flight, sources say
The aircraft, VT-EXO, experienced a sudden loss of altitude during cruise before stabilising and landing safely in Delhi. Air India said 13 passengers and four crew members were injured. The flight had 137 passengers, including three infants, and eight crew members.
According to a PTI report, citing sources, the aircraft experienced multiple technical glitches during the flight, including autopilot disconnection, a flight-control stall warning, various indicator switches going off briefly and triple hydraulic failures. The aircraft also encountered turbulence, the PTI report added.
The co-pilot manually recovered control of the aircraft after the autopilot disconnected, it added.
Airbus said on Monday that it was providing technical assistance to the investigating authorities and would send a team of specialists to assist with the probe.
Also Read: Air India Phuket-Delhi flight incident: French agency BEA, Airbus to assist in AAIB probe
Since the aircraft was manufactured in France, the country's Bureau of Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA) is also expected to assist the investigation, the PTI report showed.
The ministry had earlier said that the pilot-in-command underwent confirmatory testing after an initial psychoactive substance screening produced a result requiring further analysis.
The confirmatory test result is awaited.
The AAIB probe into the incident began on August 4. A team from the BEA and Airbus was expected to arrive in India on Tuesday to assist with the investigation, as per PTI.
